Acceptable Risk

I'm a college teacher. My students are training to become nurses. Many are LPN's already, and work with people who need help, so are considered essential workers, and at increased risk of exposure to various diseases.

Under current direction from our governor, people are supposed to practice social distancing, and to minimize contact. But this is Final Exam Week. The administration made the decision to have us give our written exams remotely, which means the exams weren't proctored. It's hard to say what the overall effect of that decision was. Two of my classes did quite well, on average, on the Final Exam. My other class did reasonable well. The average was near the historical average, not higher as one might expect, since students could have their books and access to the Internet during the exam, which was not written to be an open-book test.

I teach Anatomy and Physiology. We give Practical Exams in addition to written tests. In the Practical, students are asked to identify structures on models. I tried taking pictures of labeled models, and uploading them into our exam software, but I was not successful in making good, readable photographs. Out of my three classes, the Practical Exam was cancelled for two, and given to the third.

I was surprised how I felt giving the Practical. I was concerned about getting coronavirus. I cleaned the tables and the models. I cleaned the pen I placed by the sign-in sheet. After each session, I cleaned the models again. I kept thinking about the risks I was taking, and the risks to my students. I hope no one from the school ever gets coronavirus, at least not the one getting all the attention, and I have to wonder if our decision to give this Practical was a mistake. I can say it made some difference to some of the students. Everyone passed all three of my classes. That rarely happens, so maybe the remote Final Exam was a bigger change than I have noticed so far, but the classes were well-positioned for everyone to pass before the Final.

But what if I get coronavirus from one of my students? What if the virus spreads among them because one got if from work? How worried should I be?

I don't have any change in how I feel today compared to yesterday, but even if I now have the virus, I probably wouldn't have symptoms until tomorrow or the next day. But suddenly, everyone seems like a possible source of infection. I don't like this feeling.

We live in interesting times. Isn't that a Chinese curse?